Polls Are in: It’s Still a Horse Race

ComPRESSed: 2016 and Donald Trump

This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>unemployment is still high in the
united states
. if you talk to economists or business leaders, they say there's still a lot of the uncertainty. we don't have the
animal spirits
that have been unleashed, even though the
stock market
is performing at record levels. why does the economy still seem to be halting in its recovery?

>>well, first of all, i would observe that the economy has picked up. we forecast further pickup in
2014
. second, most people who invest, who hire will tell you that they are uncertain. they were uncertain. because seeing a budget deal, seeing tapering by the fed, which is a sign of confidence in the
real economy
, should lead them to invest, to hire and to be more confident into the future of the
u.s. economy
.

>>how low do you see unemployment going in this country?

>>two things. unemployment will continue to go down. it's around 7%. it's likely to move towards, you know, the high 6 but certainly will continue to move down. most importantly, what we need to see is a higher
participation rate
. participation means the number of people who actually join the
job market
and get a job. that number has not moved up significantly, and that's the one we will be looking at. are people getting jobs rather than are people receiving
unemployment benefits
and registering as unemployed?